ALIVE AND KICKING

Leeds United burst back to life with a performance that overshadowed the result. For those who didn’t watch the match it was a decent point from a tough home fixture, for those who did it was a vibrant, energetic, and high-intensity match that the home team controlled for large parts. But the lucky 36,000 inside Elland Road were able to experience the emotion of Leeds’s performance; the passion, the aggression, the determination. This was Bielsaball at full-throttle, and it was glorious to see.

“36,000 inside Elland Road were able to experience the emotion of Leeds’s performance; the passion, the aggression, the determination.”

Adam Forshaw is back and better than ever! Artwork by Remoir86

The opening minutes were frantic, fraught and end-to-end, but by the time Raphinha (who else?) opened the scoring Leeds had taken complete control. Leicester struggled to play out from the back, struggled to play through midfield, and their hopeful balls over the top were handled expertly by Cooper and Llorente. The goal could have been the spring-board to a brilliant and resounding victory, instead, just seven seconds after the re-start Harvey Barnes curled in an exquisite equaliser. It was a body blow that punctured the atmosphere and the performance, but after half-time Leeds raised their game again, and for fifteen minutes they perhaps reached new heights. Their non-stop tenacity suffocated Leicester and brought wave after wave of attacks. Elland Road was intoxicated, a goal would have blown the roof off, but Harrison kneed over an open goal from two yards, Rodrigo volleyed wide from six yards, and Dan James’s finishing would have been more at home at Headingly. 

Eventually Leicester weathered the storm, and as the game wore on worries of a sucker-punch grew. The visitors remained on the back-foot but began to look more likely to score, with belief and energy slowly draining from the Leeds attack. When they did score there was an instant reprieve, almost as quick as Leicester’s reprieve in the first half. It was a machine that came to Leeds’s rescue, or perhaps the incompetence of those managing the machine, as suggested by Brendon Rodgers. Ironically it was a year to the day since the worst offside decision in the history of football, when Bamford’s equaliser at Crystal Palace was ruled out despite him being behind or level with three Palace defenders. They say these things even themselves out, and this one evened out like clockwork. I hope I’m alive to see what happens on 28th May 2075!

Collectively Leeds were greater than the sum of their parts, but individually there were positive signs too. Dallas and Harrison were much more like themselves, while, despite his end product issues, Dan James was constantly an effective outlet with good link-up play. James is not a striker, and Pascal Struijk is not a left-back, but these were not square pegs shoved into round holes. El Loco is always trying to mould the shapes of his pegs to fit many holes, and Struijk showed the value of the versatility Bielsa demands of his players with an excellent display. Without a hint of sentimentality, the man of the match was Adam Forshaw, whose return to the starting line-up after a two-year absence was the key to Leeds’s return to form. He controlled midfield with a calm authority in possession, and off the ball his vibrant pressing helped the first line of defence prevent Leicester from having any sustained periods of attack. Considering the opposition this was his best performance in a Leeds shirt. In the 90th minute, having just gone down with cramp, the man of the match left the pitch to a standing ovation. ‘Forshaw the scouse Lazarus’ may never catch on, but it would have been a fitting tribute today.

“The man of the match was Adam Forshaw, whose return to the starting line-up after a two-year absence was the key to Leeds’s return to form. ”

In the end I was happy enough with a point. We deserved all three, and with the fixtures on the horizon we may well rue this result in the weeks to come, but for now it was enough to see Leeds back to their old selves, looking like a team that can challenge at the top end of the table, nothing like relegation fodder. Like Adam Forshaw, Leeds United are alive and kicking.

Rocco Dean - Author of Marcelo Bielsa vs The Damned United (order on Amazon)